PDI CRM allows you to link with one of two SMS gateway providers.
This Setup screen allows you to define which gateway provider you have selected and entered your details accordingly.
Clickatell - www.clickatell.co.za or www.clickatell.com - is a gateway provider based in South Africa. If you wish to use this provider, you need to sign up for a developer centre gateway account. This will generate an API key that you can capture in the set-up grid shown above. The port number and HTTP address will be set automatically but can be changed if required. The port number can be changed to 443 rather than port 80 to use an HTTPS connection. In the case of Clickatell, the reply email does not need to be, so this field will not only be any editing. Once you have completed your sign-up, you will receive an SMS user and password that can be used with your API key.
TextAnywhere - www.textanywhere.net - is a UK based SMS gateway provider. Set up your account via the website to give you the required user name and password. An API key is not supplied or required for the TextAnywhere account; however, it is recommended that you supply an email address that will receive any replies to SMS messages. Some mobile networks will not deliver the message if this is left blank.
Use for SMS - to use SMS functionality within PDi CRM, you must check the [Use for SMS] box to enable the required gateway. Only one gateway can be used to send SMS messages.
Test area - Use the test area to ensure that your settings are correct for the selected SMS gateway provider. Enter a mobile number in the correct format for the provider and the message to send, the message will be sent, and the result will be displayed. The [Check your credit balance] can be used for both gateways to check how many available credits you have. The [Check coverage on the number entered] is only available with the Clickatell provider, and this will display if the message can be delivered and the number of credits that will be used (Clickatell requires a US number service (short or long) to be purchased if you are sending messages to a US network provider).
Cell phone formatting - How the cell number is formatted will depend on the gateway provider. Suppose you are using the Clickatell gateway provider. In that case, the cell phone must be formatted without the international + or leading zeros, so if sending a message, a South African number should be formatted (275555555), UK (445555555), France (335555555).
Suppose you are using the TextAnywhere gateway provider. The system will format based on your default country, so if you have set up your default country like the US. You send a number to the server as 275555555; it will format it as a US number and become +1275555555, which may fail to be delivered (but you will be charged the appropriate credits). So, if you are sending to multiple countries, ensure that your cell phone numbers are formatted with a leading + to indicate international and the complete number, so enter your cell phone number as +275555555; this will stop TextAnywhere from automatically formatting the number.
Sending single SMS messages
The customer, prospect and supplier contact grids cell phone column now include an SMS button within the editor - 
. If this button is pressed, a screen similar to the following will be displayed, allowing you to send an SMS message to your cell phone number.
The number of characters will be displayed and will change to bold if you go other 160 characters. Within the gateway provider, you can determine how many messages packages you can send if you enter a message over the 160 characters; remember that each message package will be charged the appropriate number of credits.
Press the [Send Message] to transfer the message details to the SMS gateway provider defined.
The [View Prior messages] will display all previous messages sent to the number shown, allowing you to view and find the current status of the message.
If you are currently using an SMS provider that includes a free developer API interface, please send us the details, and we may look at adding the gateway to our list.
PDI Spirit takes no responsibility for any lost credits which are due to incorrectly formatting cell phone numbers or due to issues with the service provided by the gateway
NB: If using TextAnywhere, ensure that your Internet Options have SSL 1.0 and SSL 1.1 are turned off.